Cold War Effects On American Religion

The Cold War began after World War II between the Soviet Union and the United States. Both had different beliefs because the Soviet Union is communist and the United States is capitalist. Each side wanted to dominate the world by forcing other countries to become either communist or capitalist. Because each side had different beliefs, Americans viewed communism as evil and it had an impact on American religion. The Cold War shaped American religious ideals because it elicited a stronger Christian faith, influenced civil religion and linked them to other countries such as Israel, Iran and Afghanistan. The Cold War elicited a stronger Christian faith because Americans felt that they had to defeat the godless Soviet Union. In the beginning …show more content…
After the overthrow of the Mossadeq government, the new leader, Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, attempted non-communist modernization. The United States helped with the overthrow because they felt that it was their duty to catch up other countries and establish capitalism. If Iran were to become communist, there could be a domino effect and other Arab countries could become communist. Iran mostly resented capitalism and communism, but some people favored either one. Additionally, Afghanistan felt that if Iran could overthrow, then they did not need capitalism or communism either. The mujahideen fought the communist government in Afghanistan and it was back by US forces. The Taliban resulted from this because there was resentment from foreign interference from the Cold War, which later lead to terrorism. This shows that American religious ideals were linked to Iran and Afghanistan because the United States backed both of them. Americans believed it was their duty to help both countries fight communism because Americans wanted them to become capitalists. American religious ideals also changed because of the resentment during the Cold War. It is possible that some Americans now believe that the US government should not have